"And you as well."

I smiled, but remained silent. I did not talk until that fateful question when things were thrown to the Abyss, burning up. Our awkward silence was chopped in half, and Ru stumbled back. My cheeks and ears burned, and I looked down. I instantly regretted my question. I knew she was too young, but she was so close to being two, that wasn't that young, right?

I look up, my hazel eyes flickering. My heart dropped as I looked at Hotaru, her appearance setting me into a trance. I heard her stutter my name, and my heart began to fall faster, faster now. What had I done? I was sinking, my knees, they would give out any moment now. My throat itched as Ru spoke, telling me she didn't know what love was. I smiled, a gentle, forgiving smile. "Love is when you feel as though you would walk a thousand miles through fire to get to someone, that you would take an arrow to the throat if it meant saving that someone, that you would do anything for that person. But at the same time, love is something no one can truly explain." It was a sad explanation but it was true. I wouldn't let even the farthest distance stand in my way from Ru. I would walk miles and miles, no matter what torturous pain those miles held. I didn't care if my body was burning, I would keep walking those miles to reach Ru.

Her next words put a smile on my lips, and I stepped closer to her. She was a porcelain doll in my trembling hands, and she was slipping. "Everyone is capable of love, it doesn't matter if they've been broken, bent, twisted, or damaged. They will always find love somewhere, even if they don't realize it. Love is in everyone, everywhere. Many push it away, but others hold it dear to their hearts." I was one of those who held love dear. I had lost so many in such a little time. Hotaru was my last thread of love, but if she accepted, the thread would soon lace up a quilt of enormous size, and it would help stitch all the tears life had created in my heart.

Ru stuttered another sentence, and at this one, my smile dimmed. A more serious face sunk in, but just barely. In my eyes there was the hint of pure fear, but it was not alone. My eyes glimmered with a hope and a desperation. I was climbing a burning chain, my hands singed. Hotaru's love lay at the top, so far from me. Yet I kept climbing, and I would. No matter how long it took. "Hotaru, you're a sweet girl, and you know that deep down. And I don't care if you hate me, if you want me to leave you alone. Because I won't. I'll be breaking myself if I let go of you. I don't care if you don't accept my love. But Hotaru, you will always be my world, and you'll always be my everything."

I swallowed hard, hesitating before I continued. Tears were at the barricade, trying to ram it down. They wanted to begin leaking out in this tense yet emotional moment. The emotions were playing our hearts, our lyrics had been exchanged, and I was going to add more into our love song. "Hotaru, I don't care if you reject my love, I'm going to stay with you. I don't care if you don't understand your own feelings, so just remember this..." I paused, hesitant to say the words. The three words that tied me to Hotaru, the words that had made an invisible string that tied Hotaru and I together. I smiled, staring Hotaru straight in the eyes, having stepped closer to her now.

"I love you."

"Talk"